• Serena Williams, who said her first auto purchase was a while Lincoln Navigator SUV she named “Ginger,” has signed to become an official spokesperson for the brand. A social media-based marketing campaign includes videos of Williams talking about and driving the 2018 Navigator, with ongoing videos to follow. “Partnering with a brand like Navigator comes from a genuine place,” she said in the first video. “Let’s just be honest: Serena Williams needs to be in the new Navigator.”

• The Smashing Pumpkins unveil 'Shiny And Oh So Bright' 36-city tour, their first tour in nearly 20 years, with founding members Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, James Iha. Produced by Live Nation.

June 14, 2017: Sitting in the Richmond, Va. offices of The Martin Agency, members of the creative team were plotting the next move in client Geico’s "It’s What You Do" campaign.

Geico commercials in recent years have featured among others Salt-N-Pepa, Little Richard, Charo, Dikembe Mutumbo, Ickey Woods and Glady Knight’s The Pips, a strategy that has enabled the insurance firm to delve into the world of celebrity nostalgia to showcase people who have experienced the heights of popularity but are due for an impactful comeback among a new and younger demographic.

This week, Geico breaks a a multi-media campaign staring Boyz II Men, a group formed in Philadelphia in the late 1980s, who are multi-Grammy winners with 11 albums to their credit.

The "It’s What You Do" campaign features the trio of Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris, seen here as the bearers of bad news, but with a twist: When they sing dreadful news it goes down like a spoonful of sugar.

"We actually came up with the idea of the spot first: When you’re — fill in the blank — you make anything sound good,” said Neel Williams, creative director for The Martin Agency. "We needed a smooth singer or singing group to make the spot work, and Boyz II Men was our very first choice.

"They fell right in the sweet spot of impressive talent and feel-good nostalgia. We wrote them into the script from Day One. You never know if celebrities are going to be available or up for it, so when they agreed to do the spot, we were really over the moon," said Williams.

In the lead spot, "Side Effects," the Boyz are in a pharmacy, harmonizing as a woman picks up her medication. As with most medicine, it comes with side effects, but when they are sung by Boyz II Men (“dizziness, nausea, sweaty eyelids, and in severe cases chronic flatulence — you'll be so gassy, girl") they actually make her smile.

A voiceover says, "If you’re Boyz II Men, you can make anything sound good. It’s what you do. If you want to save 15% or more, you switch to Geico.

“Nathan, Wanya and Shawn were so collaborative and easy to work with,” said Justin Harris, associate creative director for The Martin Agency.

“A few days before the shoot we all sat in a room with the director and hashed it out. The process was surreal, to be sitting in a conference room with these amazing singers and throwing around lyrics like ‘chronic flatulence’ and ‘excessive earwax’,” said Harris.

In a separate faux "Informercial" spot, Boyz II Men offer their singing services to save people from being "brutally honest with friends and relatives, which could lead to loss of friendship, respect. And potentially your front teeth."

"The Geico ‘It’s What You Do’ campaign has been the gift that keeps on giving," said Williams. “Ken Marcus (senior writer) and Sean Riley (creative director) created the concept and developed the first five rounds of work.”

Williams indicated that the Boyz II Men effort might be the end of the line for the “It’s What You Do” creative.

"Lucky for me and Justin, they decided to open up the brief for the sixth and final round," said Williams.

In addition to the main spots, the campaign will be expanded when Boyz II Men are scheduled to perform live on Geico’s Facebook Page June 25 (4 PM EST). The Boyz are asking people to send them requests via Twitter with the hash tag #BadNewzBoyz and they will sing as many bad news messages as they can.

The Boyz also populate a Geico Web page that links to insurance information.

According to Harris, the shoot was as fun as it was a dedication to the process.

"It was a mixture of laughter and amazement because they honestly do make everything sound good," said Harris.

“On the day of the shoot, they couldn’t have performed better. It was a long day and they were 100% invested from the first take all the way though the 'Bad Newz' extended content at the end of the day."

As the “Infomercial" spot indicates, among the dozen or so eight-to-15 second bad news singing messages people can send to friends or relatives are:

"Bad Dancing" (“Last night you danced like no one was watching, but, girl, everyone was watching”)

And even one to send your social media-challenged parents, "Mom and Dad" ("Please stop liking every single one of my posts").

“Every time we threw a new lyric at them, they worked out the phrasing and melodies within a couple minutes, then performed it to perfection all while hitting their marks,” said Harris. "If you watch the behind the scenes video, you get a sense for how many different things we tried and how Boyz II Men rolled with the punches all day long."

The spot directs people to YouTube.com/Geico, where the full playlist is available. A disclaimer offers: "Start social-media-ing your bad news today. Geico not responsible for destroying relationships, burning metaphorical bridges or turning friends into frenemies."

According to a "Behind the Scenes" video, Boyz II Men watched previous Geico commercials and said, “We want in.”

"We saw Salt-N-Pepa, we said, cm’on. We saw the Ice T commercial ("Is that Ice T?" "No, it's lemonade!") and got fed up. We called management and said We need to have one of those commercials.”

However, according to The Martin Agency, that was "on-screen humorous sarcasm. We reached out to Boyz II Men first."